Calling Prima Restaurant in south Minneapolis a “true pioneer in the Twin Cities local food movement, and the local food movement all around the country for that matter,” Minnesota Farmers Union President Doug Peterson presented the Jon Radle Award to Prima owners Eliot King and Jennifer Jackson-King.

Created in 1993 to promote the education and advancement of women in the restaurant and foodservice industry, Women Chefs and Restaurateurs is a “really powerful and useful” resource that also offers scholarships and business support.

It was a conversation about innovation and responding to the marketplace, so it was fitting that the panelists gathered September 13 in St. Paul jumped as quickly from one topic to another like diners to the next hot restaurant.

I have been reading lately about expanding leadership consciousness and intentional workplace cultures and new management paradigms and speaking your truth and surfing the waves of change, and as a precaution I’m reaching for my heart medicine.

Pinto’s start in restaurants came at an early age. “I started at 12 washing dishes in my dad’s restaurant, then years later owned the Acme Cafe in Uptown followed by some years as GM at J.D. Hoyts and Loon Cafe.”